The Arrival of Aeneas at Pallanteum

Claude Lorrain (Champagne 1600 – Rome 1682). Oil painting on canvas, The Arrival of Aeneas at Pallanteum by Claude Lorrain (Champagne 1600 – Rome 1682), signed and dated bottom centre and inscribed below Aeneas: Larrivo d'Anea a palant [eo] al monte evantino Claudio. Gille. inv. fecit. ROMAE. 1675. Two oared ships about to land, Aeneas holding olive branch, welcoming group in centre, fortress on hill left, sheep and shepherds left foreground. Aeneas arrives with two galleys at Pallanteum, bearing palm leaf and asking for friendship. Youths of the town assembled in a grove outside and armed are afraid. Prince Pallas, carrying a spear, addresses the newcomers from a cliff. On far side of the river, ruins of ancient towns. The scene is taken from the Roman poet Virgil's Aeneid, Book VIII: 79-123, which describes the journeyings of the Trojan leader, Aeneas. After adventures in the Mediterranean and southern Italy, Aeneas arrived in Latium, at the mouth of the Tiber. Instructed by the river god to seek an ally, he sets sail and soon reached Pallanteum, the site on which he was one day to found Rome. There he met Pallas, son of king Evander, with whom he concluded an armed alliance. This was painted by Claude for Gasparo Paluzzi degli Albertoni in 1675. When Gasparo’s uncle-in-law, Emilio Altieri (1590-1676) ascended to the papacy as Clement X on 29 April 1670, both Gasparo and his father Angelo were promoted, the former becoming a prince. No doubt after this event Gasparo, as the papal nephew, deemed it appropriate to order an Arrival of Aeneas as a proud allusion to his position and noble descent not only from the Altieri family but also from Aeneas himself: the Altieri family claimed lineage from the founder of Rome and consequently their family coat of arms is displayed on Aeneas’ ship. Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire (Accredited Museum)